Forgive my ignorance, what exactly is the difference between the Tristar C-100 and the CZ75 Compact?... Is this a clone or something?

Basically yes, AFAIK it is largely a clone, although IIRC there are a few minor differences. It's close enough that it supposedly takes CZ 75 Compact mags. According to what I've read online, the C-100 is more directly copied from the EAA Witness / Tanfoglio line than from the CZ.

FWIW Tristar is an importer. The pistol is made by Canik 55 in Turkey; the number 55 is part of the company name, NOT a model number, so the full name of the gun is the Canik 55 C-100. This pistol has bounced around between several different importers in the last few years, but AFAIK the pistol itself is the same.

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Last edited by carguychris; November 14, 2012 at 02:34 PM.
Reason: minor reword...

It's certainly an attractive alternative, it's essentially the same thing without the brand name. I don't plan on selling my firearms once I purchase them so resale value I don't think would be a real concern.

Is Canik 55 an offshoot of Sarsilmaz? That would make it a clone of a clone of a clone...the Sarsilmaz Kliniq is a clone of the Tanfolgio Force, (EAA Witness), which is a clone of the CZ 75.

Or yuo could get the original. I carried a Witness for years, then found the original and never looked back. Nothing wrong with the Witness, good solid gun, can't say anything about the Sarsilmaz, AKA Armalite AR-24.
I know absolutely nothing about TriStar - don't they make movies?

I have the Tristar C100. My CZ75 magazines will interchange with the C100, the gun is an absolute dream to shoot, and has been 100% reliable through 1000 rds now. Check out the reviews on http://www.czfirearms.us/

The early Tanfoglios were CLONES of the CZ, but over the years they've changed a lot of details, so there's not much interchangeability -- so they're no longer clones. (Clones, as I've always understood the term, meant very close copies, with interchangeability -- like the early FEG copies of the BHP, and some of the early 1911s not built by Colt.)

The various guns coming out of Turkey seem to have originally been based on later Tanfoglio guns, but with differences. None of them are clones, but there is a general adherence to the original CZ design. Some of these guns are getting good reviews form those who own or shoot them.

The early Tanfoglios were CLONES of the CZ, but over the years they've changed a lot of details, so there's not much interchangeability -- so they're no longer clones.

I've been trying without success to come up with a firearms term that means "somewhat of a clone but with some significant albeit not substantial changes". "Replica" implies a non-functional model. "Emulation" is hard to understand. "Copy" maybe?

Maybe it's best to say that the EAA Witness / Tanfoglio line and the Canik 55 C-100 are designed in the CZ 75 pattern.

__________________
"Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules... MARK IT ZERO!!" - Walter Sobchak

Have had the Canik C100 for about a year. Basically it is a CZ compact with alloy frame. So, kind of a combination of a PCR (which I sold due to it being my only decocker model of CZ) and the Compact which is steel frame with safety. CZ mags work in the Canik, but not the other way around. Notch in mag is slightly too low. Could probably be filed down a hair to work but for me was not worth trying it.

That seems to be how many of the 1911s now being sold, including some of the double-stack models are described: "1911 Pattern" guns. They have the same general mechanism, design, and functionality as the original Colt-made 1911, but many of them aren't really clones any more.

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